


All I Ever Wanted

by janetcarter



Category: The Secret Saturdays
Genre: Angst, Backstory, Gen, Siblings, familial dysfunction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28362588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janetcarter/pseuds/janetcarter
Summary: In her cell, Abbey gets a visitor.
Relationships: Abbey Grey & Miranda Grey
Kudos: 3





	All I Ever Wanted

**Author's Note:**

> An old thing for the Fictober prompt "All I ever wanted."

Abbey was better than this. She was better than being stuck in a cell in the trunk of the Saturday airship, head hanging low. She was better than getting caught at all, let alone having no means of escaping.

But she'd already checked every inch of her place of confinement. No vents or loose screws, nothing she could weaponize or use to reach the lock-pad. All she had left was her charm, but that had long since expired with this family. Not even Fiskerton was biting.

She thought she'd reached rock-bottom, but then… the worst possible person showed up at her cell door.

Miranda was stoic at her most emotional, but Abbey knew the tells. Miranda's lip twitched and her posture was as rigid as the statue Abbey had stolen the month prior. If Abbey didn't need to play off of such turmoil to get the upper hand, she might have let herself enjoy it. _ Good, feel the way I do. This is your fault, after all. _

Miranda swallowed. "Abbey."

"It's been some time, hasn't it?" Not long enough, however.

Miranda's posture cracked for a brief moment. "How on earth did this happen?"

"I wasn't careful enough, evidently." She lifted her wrists which were pinned together. 

"You know what I mean." 

"What? How did I go from a sweet little girl to a mercenary?" Money, for one, but money didn't garner sympathy. "Don't act like you weren't there during our childhood."

"This again?" Miranda sighed. "Our parents certainly were not perfect, but--"

"Not perfect? They pitted us against each other!" It wasn't a lie, and unfortunately she could feel herself getting heated. She needed to exert some semblance of control to ping just the right spot of blame, but it truly had been ages since they'd last spoken; and longer than that since she'd been honest. "Classic of you to still defend them. I suppose I would, too, if I'd gotten the inheritance."

Miranda's jaw tightened. "Money was the bigger issue then, was it?"

You know, she was fine making herself out to be a greedy selfish bitch, but hearing it from Miranda actually… almost hurt. It was like it took control away from her image, from the profession she'd sought out in order to  _ regain _ control in the first place. "It isn't the money. It's the principle. All I ever wanted was their approval, but how could I ever match up to _ you?" _

"Abbey, you were always getting yourself into trouble." Miranda's sighing tone was reminiscent of the one she'd used as a teenager to discipline her. It was one she'd copied from their parents. Abbey certainly did not need a speech then or now from her sister of all people. "You can't blame our parents for disapproving."

"Didn’t you ever wonder  _ why _ I acted out? You know, I was so proud to be your sister in the beginning, but then they started comparing us... At some point, I learned I'd never be enough either way."

"Well,” Miranda said, looking away. “I am sorry you feel that way, but explanations are not excuses."

"You _ did _ ask," Abbey muttered. "So, what now? Here to take me home?" She said it mockingly, but in truth it was the only way she could see herself getting out of this. Miranda had been there in the past to pick up the pieces, so why wouldn’t it be any different now? 

At Miranda's response, her heart snapped. "I’m afraid it isn’t my concern anymore. The Saturdays have their plans."

The cell walls felt like they were closing in. "Oh, so you're not going to feel any guilt knowing you failed your little sister?"

"Of course I will," Miranda snapped. "I think about you every single day, Abbey, about everything I’ve done wrong. But evidently I will only continue to fail you, and that is why I'm not getting involved any farther; both for your sake and my own."

Before she knew it, Miranda was walking away.

"Miranda? Miranda  _ please!" _ she begged, hands banging against the indestructible glass. "You’re all I have!"

But Miranda had left without so much as looking back, leaving Abbey all alone. She kicked the cell door as her final words echoed. They were a reminder of the truth she had not believed until it was far too late to claim. 


End file.
